NASA plans to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era. The Artemis III mission, currently planned for 2025, will be the first human mission to explore the region near the lunar South Pole.
The South Pole region is frigid, rugged, and has unique light and darkness conditions. It’s also home to the rim of the moon’s largest, oldest, and deepest crater, called South Pole Aitkin. The crater takes up almost a quarter of the Moon and is so deep it exposes portions of the moon’s interior.
Astronauts will need easy walking trails around the Moon’s South Pole because:
- The South Pole is primarily in darkness.
- The terrain is challenging with boulders and impact craters.
- Astronauts have to bring their entire life support system with them.
The temperature variation on the lunar surface around the south pole is from 70 degree Celsius to minus 10 degree Celsius.
The Moon’s south pole is of special interest to scientists because it contains water ice in permanently shadowed areas. Water ice is a valuable resource for future human exploration of the Moon, as it could be used for drinking water, fuel, and oxygen.
The south pole is also home to a number of unique geological features, such as the South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest impact basin in the solar system. The basin might harbor materials from the moon’s deep crust and upper mantle, providing glimpses into its geological evolution.
The south pole has long been considered a good place for settlement because its many craters experience both permanent sunlight and shade. This makes it possible to generate electricity using solar panels while also having icy zones to mine for water
India became the first country to land near the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023. The Indian Space Research Organization (IRSO) mission was the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. The Chandrayaan-3 lander was the first to land in the lunar south pole region.
The U.S., China, and the former Soviet Union have also achieved soft lunar landings, but none have ever reached the south lunar pole.
Russia launched its Luna 25 lunar lander on August 10, 2023. Luna-25 spent five days journeying to the Moon, then circled the natural satellite for another five to seven days.
Yes, there is ice on the Moon’s south pole. In 2009, a NASA probe found water ice below the moon’s surface. The same year, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) detected hydroxyl in the Cabeus crater near the south pole, which indicated the presence of water ice.
The South Pole-Aitken basin contains many permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) that are thought to have trapped water ice over time. The PSRs are some of the coldest spots in the solar system.
According to remote observations by radar instruments, the lunar poles have over 600 billion kilograms of water ice. That’s enough to fill at least 240,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools
Yes, the Moon’s south pole is very cold. The temperature variation on the lunar surface around the south pole is from 70 degree Celsius to minus 10 degree Celsius. In shadowed regions, temperatures can drop to as low as -230 degrees Celsius (-382 degrees Fahrenheit). The low temperatures in PSRs trap water molecules, mixing them into the lunar soil.
The cold temperatures can create a major hurdle for the proper functioning of crucial electronic devices needed for exploring the Lunar South Pole
, the Moon’s south pole is not visible from Earth. The Moon’s rotation is slowed by Earth’s gravity, so the same side is always facing Earth. This phenomenon is called tidal locking.
The only time the far side of the Moon can be seen from Earth is during a lunar eclipse when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun. The Moon’s south pole appears at the top from Earth’s southern hemisphere.
Scientists’ knowledge of the Moon’s south pole comes entirely from spacecraft orbiting the Moon. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has collected precise information about the region and its terrain.
Lunar Astronauts Will Need Easy Walking Trails Around the Moon’s South Pole. Before this decade is out, NASA plans to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo Era and build the necessary infrastructure to keep sending them back. And they will hardly be alone
The moon’s south pole is difficult to land on because of its rugged terrain, which includes:Craters, Boulders, Uneven surfaces, Deep trenches, Lobate scarps.
The uneven landscape makes it difficult to find a suitable landing site. The dark lighting conditions during spacecraft descent also make it harder to land.
The moon’s south pole is also difficult to land on because of its permanently shadowed regions. These regions preserve water ice, but also make it more difficult to land
The moon’s south pole experiences periods of darkness due to the tilt of its axis and the way it orbits the sun. The moon’s axis is nearly perpendicular to the direction of the sun’s light. This means that some areas are lit for most of the year, while others have not received any direct sunlight for eons.
The moon’s axis is not tilted as much as Earth’s. The low-hanging sun casts the landscape in a duality of light. The crater rims are exposed to near-constant solar illumination, yet the interior of the craters are permanently shaded from sunlight.
The temperatures at the surface in lunar PSRs are extremely low (<110 K / –267°F) where there is no direct sunlight. Molecules of water that encounter a PSR are frozen and trapped by the low temperatures, mixing into the lunar soil.
Artemis 3 mission
Artemis 3 is a NASA mission that aims to land humans on the moon for the first time in over 50 years. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2025, but NASA has expressed concerns about the progress of the mission’s human landing system. The mission could be delayed until 2026.
The goal of Artemis 3 is to:
- Land a crew at the Moon’s south polar region
- Land two astronauts on the surface of the Moon for a stay of about one week
- Be the first mission to land a woman and a person of color on the Moon
- Last 30 days
The mission depends on a support mission to place a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in place in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) of the Moon.
The mission will involve:
- Four astronauts flying to the Moon on board Orion
- Docking with Gateway in orbit around the Moon
- Prada designing next-generation space suits for NASA
The first two Artemis missions were to learn and demonstrate the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft.
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